One of Hallmark 's ornaments for the holiday season is snowballing into some controversy following the replacement of the word `` gay '' while quoting `` Deck the Halls . ''

The red `` Holiday Sweater '' ornament is decorated with the lyric , `` Don we now our fun apparel . ''

The traditional line from the famous Christmas song is `` Don we now our gay apparel . ''

The change caused one Facebook user to comment on Hallmark 's official page , `` It 's OK to be GAY !! Fix your dumb ornament ! ''

`` You can be sure that myself and many others wo n't be buying your cards anymore , '' another Facebook user complained .

Hallmark defended the change in lyrics .

`` When the lyrics to ` Deck the Halls ' were translated from Gaelic and published in English back in the 1800 's , the word ` gay ' meant festive or merry , '' according to a statement released Wednesday . `` Today it has multiple meanings , which we thought could leave our intent open to misinterpretation . ''

The Hallmark statement went on to explain that the ornament was created in the spirit of `` fun . ''

`` The trend of wearing festively decorated Christmas sweaters to parties is all about fun , and this ornament is intended to play into that , '' the statement said . `` So the planning team decided to say what we meant : fun . ''

It added : `` That 's the spirit we intended and the spirit in which we hope ornament buyers will take it . ''

The ornament is for sale on the company 's website as part of the Keepsake collection for the price of $ 12.95 .

Hallmark was founded in 1910 and is now a $ 4 billion business with greeting cards and other products sold in 39,000 retail stores across the United States and in 100 countries worldwide , according to its website .

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Festive sweater ornament features `` fun apparel '' line

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Complaints posted on Hallmark 's Facebook page

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Company says `` gay '' has multiple meanings today

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Christmas sweaters are all about fun , it states